I’ve been indoctrinated since birth to eat sufficient green leafy vegetables. No outright threats were made should this not occur, but dire consequences were implied. (Thanks, mom.) Therefore, my concience is soothed by consumption of a smoothie containing said guards against the evils of poor health. My particular favorite for smoothies is spinach because you can’t taste it at all. Here’s how I get my greens in the morning.
Green Smoothie
- 1 banana
- 1 cup frozen berries
- 2 Tbsp raw almond butter (crunchy or creamy, different from each other but both good)
- 1-2 handfuls raw spinach
- 1 serving protein powder
- almond milk, sufficient to blend properly
Just throw everything in the blender with the spinach on top for best blending results. I start with a cup of almond milk and add more if the ingredients won’t turn in the blender.
Drink, enjoy, and feel a little smug at how healthy you are now.
Ciao,
Amanda
There is no definable point at which a plan becomes a reality. It is a gradual process. One day, however, you look around and realize parts of your life are very, very different and show no signs of stopping there. Our plan to move has been many years in the making. I can tell it’s now become a reality when I look at our near-empty living room.
It’s a unique feeling to see a space you thought of as ‘home’ for years looking empty and foreign. There’re twinges of sadness, anxiety (what if we need to go back and now we’ve sold all our funiture), but also lots of excitement. I’ve never been a minimalist by nature. I’m actually more of a born hoarder. I thought letting go of all the furniture my husband and I picked out at the beginning of our lives together would be immensely painful. However, where I expected to feel a sense of loss and emptiness, I actually feel eager and excited. I absolutely love having less stuff. I am focused less on the past and more on the future. I highly recommend paring down.
It seems there’s an endless to-do list when you move, especiallly to another country. So how does one maintain sanity in an empty-ish-but-somehow-still-untidy house with endless lists of errands, phone calls and packing tasks to accomplish? One sweats out the stress! I’ve learned supremely well in this stressful season that skipping workouts is not helpful in the long run. When you stop taking care of your basic needs, the end of your motivation and staying power is near.
I am about to try Personal Training with Jackie: Power Circuit Training. I obviously don’t have time for a lot of working out so each minute has to count. I also don’t have a gym membership anymore, so a workout can’t require a lot of equipment. Bonjour home workout dvds. (Netflix has all the new good ones and some oldies you can check out).
Now that I’ve downed my green smoothie and coffee for the morning, I’m ready to sweat. Hopefully, the workout will leave me all sweaty and de-stressed and ready to make a dent in my super-long to-do list.
I’ll keep you posted.
Ciao,
Amanda
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